Peeking at investments...how often?

[Trev H]

In the accumulation phase...

I typically update my "Balance Sheet" once a quarter and look mostly at totals only on all accounts (savings, investments) at that time.

Once a year, I have to manually rebalance my Vanguard Rollover IRA and I notice the component balances then as I rebalance.

My company plan and my wife's plan includes a auto rebal feature, so I will just occasionally take note of the component balances just to make sure that is working.

The rest of the time, I find something more fun to do !

Trev H

[tadamsmar]

Hello,

On days where the market is flat or down, I find it annoying to see the balance in my investment account. I want to get into the habit of checking once a month, or even once every two months - but find this difficult to do. I also check Google Finance every few hours or so, just to see where things are at for the day. This is a big waste of time, but it's part of human nature.

How often do you check your investments?
What tips can you provide to avoid peeking?

Unfortunately, I haven't mastered any of Mr. Bogle's best advice. I think "Not Peeking" is one of his top 5. I also have a problem with "Stay the Course" which I think is number one.

All I have to do is hear something from someone else I respect then my wheels start turning and I'm either looking to change my AA or do something stupid and change direction all together.

I think if we all take Mr. Bogle's advice about not peeking we will all be happier and more successful investores. I also like "Don't just do something, stand there"

And as much as I love this board, I think visiting it too much can be dangerous. I'm guility of this as well, but I have a hard time staying away. I think too many here actually do the opposite of Mr. Bogle would do. Although they are index investors, I find they over complicate things and tinker too much. Mr. Bogle's advice on simplicity seems lost by many here. I find Mr. Taylor Larimore is the closest thing you can find to Mr. Bogle on this site.

I used to do mental calculations of what this or that tweak would do even if it worked. The difference was always trivial and lost in the noise. It's fuzzy math at best and it's reasonable to assume public information is baked into the market.

I use to check my account once a month for unauthorized activity, but Vanguard has recently made email confirmations reliable for fraud monitoring, so I don't need to look if I am not planning to rebalance which is once a year.

If I hear the SP500 has moved X% then my investment balance has changed about half that, roughly.

One does have a responsibility under Vanguard's online fraud policy to monitor for fraud.

[abrix]

I check about every two weeks just after payday. I have a few funds each in my employer account and my IRA at Vanguard, so I can decide where to direct the next contributions by checking out what's a little behind. Then, rebalance at predetermined dates only if an asset class is outside certain bands. All strictly scheduled so I don't over or under react to anything.

[ObliviousInvestor]

I check once a month when we make our 401k contributions. I don't usually remember what it said last month.

[Tazdog]

Anyone else peeking over the last couple of days?

[Bikebro]

Since i just opened a Rollover IRA last week I've been looking to much. I know the last few days have been small but it's still not the best feeling.

[WVUGuy275]

I look every weekday, and update my portfolio spreadsheets every other week.

[kamo]

I calculate our net worth quarterly.
I calculate our household spending monthly
I peek at our checking and credit card accounts every couple of days. They are our first line of defense so I want to know more quickly if anything unusual happens there.

Because of decisions made in the past and the company's retirement plan our investments are scattered across different investment companies. So calculating nw takes some time and that hassle helps me not peek so often. Our philosophy is buy-n-hold so that helps as well since we're focused on the long-term.

[JDaniels]

Monthly

[gofigure]

It depends on how the market is doing. If it's up, I'll look as much as a few times in a week. If it's down I don't look.